Studying abroad can be an enriching and life-changing experience. However, the costs associated with international education often deter many students. Scholarships make studying overseas more accessible by helping fund tuition, room and board, travel, and other expenses. For ambitious students facing financial constraints, scholarships transform study abroad from an unattainable dream into an achievable reality.
This article will discuss the array of academic, career, and personal growth benefits afforded by studying abroad with scholarship assistance. Comparisons between studying domestically and internationally will highlight the distinct advantages offered by immersive overseas education. An FAQ section at the end will answer common questions about applying for and making the most of scholarships abroad.
Academic Benefits of Studying Abroad
Scholarships for studying abroad provide access to educational opportunities that stretch well beyond what is available at most colleges and universities within the United States. From complimentary language training and cultural enrichment to unique courses not offered stateside, international scholarships allow students to expand their academic skill sets and global perspectives.
Language Development
Many study abroad scholarship programs—especially those in non-Anglophone destinations—either require or actively encourage language instruction. Students enrolled in foreign universities often have access to complimentary intensive language training before the onset of regular courses. Such training allows students to rapidly gain language skills essential for comprehending lectures, participating in discussions, forming friendships, and navigating daily interactions.
Additionally, full cultural and linguistic immersion accelerates proficiency dramatically compared to domestic language courses. Surrounded by native speakers, students find themselves practising new vocabulary and grammar structures instinctively. The below table contrasts typical language gains when studying domestically compared to full immersion abroad:
| Type of Instruction | Typical Progress After 1 Semester |
| Domestic college language courses (1 hour/day classroom instruction) | Advanced 1/2 language level |
| Immersive study abroad with some language training | Advanced 1 to 2 language levels |
For many students, swift language gains while abroad lead them to achieve proficiency they would not have attained over years of class meetings on campus. These heightened abilities open academic and professional doors upon returning home.
Interdisciplinary Opportunities
International scholarships allow students to structure unique academic plans combining interdisciplinary courses and research opportunities unavailable elsewhere. Students studying foreign policy may combine political science electives with language modules and regional history classes. Engineering majors could select from technology courses never offered at their home university while gaining hands-on experience through international internships.
Subject material often gains vivid dimension and urgency when examined overseas. For example, the realities of global health inequities will resonate more profoundly for students completing public health coursework in sub-Saharan Africa compared to a textbook-based class back home. Immersive academic experiences impart interdisciplinary knowledge and ignite students’ passion in their areas of study.
Specialized Programs
Studying abroad with financial assistance enables students to access intensive training programs, innovative courses, and scientific field research not occurring elsewhere. Scholarship recipients could study traditional Chinese medicine for a semester in Beijing or spend a summer mapping Amazonian biodiversity in Brazil.
Myriad specialized academic experiences like these—reaching far beyond what any single college can offer—are available to scholarship earners overseas. By funding participation, scholarships make these life-shaping academic opportunities possible for students who demonstrate motivation and academic merit.
Career Benefits of Studying Abroad
In today’s ultra-competitive and increasingly globalized job market, study abroad experience sets candidates apart, providing skill sets that employers specifically target. Over 98% of study-abroad alumni secured jobs within six months of graduation, outpacing those without overseas experience by 17% (IES Abroad, 2022). Recruiters actively seek globally minded candidates possessing key attributes gained abroad.
Global Competency
Through immersion in foreign cultures alongside locales, students organically build global competency defined by openness, curiosity, and adaptability when exposed to unfamiliar spaces and ideas. By sharpening these innate skills abroad, scholarship recipients gain advantages when applying to coveted international positions back home or overseas. Instead of appearing as intimidated outsiders, these students engage in new environments as seasoned explorers of global diversity.
Career Readiness
A recent survey of over 600 US employers highlighted consensus regarding unique career-boosting attributes gained through study abroad (IES Abroad, 2022). These include:
- 94% of employers surveyed See studying abroad as evidence of career readiness
- 96% View study abroad experience as demonstrating a job candidate’s adaptability
- 94% Consider study abroad experience as signifying a candidate’s ability to solve problems creatively
Equipped with such competencies proven by international education, scholarship recipients access opportunities placing them on meaningful career trajectories not typically available to domestic graduates.
Second Language Ability
As discussed in the previous section, studying abroad propels students’ language skills through immersive exposure and intensive training opportunities. Published scholarship outcomes reveal dramatic enhancements. For example:
- Students on Boren Awards for International Study who studied Arabic abroad for an academic year increased their language scores on federally recognized Oral Proficiency Interview assessments by 1.4 levels on average (NSEP, 2022).
- 95% of Colombia Scholarship recipients gained at least 1 language level through overseas coursework; 53% gained 2 levels or more (Fulbright Colombia, 2022).
These impressive enhancements give students an edge in applying for coveted jobs requiring or preferring second language skills gained abroad and funded through scholarship support.
The below table summarizes key career readiness attributes gained through immersive study abroad:
| Career Readiness Attribute | Enhanced Through Studying Abroad |
| Global competency | Adaptability and openness gained through international cultural immersion |
| Problem-solving | Creative solutions developed in unfamiliar contexts abroad |
| Language proficiency | Accelerated second language skills through immersion and training overseas |
Personal Growth required for studying abroad
Beyond academic and professional advantages, studying abroad transforms students psychologically by imparting confidence, self-direction and expanded worldviews unachievable in campus settings. Life lessons learned through cross-cultural experiences equip scholarship earners to persevere through challenges far beyond undergraduate struggles.
Self-Efficacy
Students venturing overseas and immersed in unfamiliar contexts are forced to navigate new, uncertainty-filled environments without their usual support structures. Faced with novel situations like locating apartments abroad, deciphering transit systems in foreign languages, and grocery shopping using unfamiliar currencies, sojourning students rapidly build self-efficacy defined by psychologists as belief in one’s ability to succeed in specific situations or accomplish a task (Bandura, 1977).
By gaining concrete life skills overseas, from parallel parking on European-sized streets to ordering meals at restaurants in their non-native languages, scholarship earners cannot help but gain sharp confidence in their capabilities through successfully managing novel everyday obstacles. These instances of success when tested build robust self-efficacy applicable upon returning home.
Cultural Agility
Likewise, the daily requirement of making sense of alternate cultural norms, assimilating new information and communicating through language barriers while abroad instils crucial life capacities that are transferrable. Students live through profound situations like celebrating holidays overseas devoid of familiar trappings to relying upon foreign medical systems when sick.
Psychologists dub the resulting ability to adapt and connect across cultures cultural agility. This cherished mindset imparts future resilience regarding careers in cross-cultural disciplines and relationships built across global networks (Hessel, 2015).
Perspective
On a broader level, studying abroad exposes students personally to global challenges related to public health crises, effects of climate change, migration trends, and consequences of economic inequality vividly evident overseas. Grappling firsthand with such pressing issues provides perspectives unattainable within insulated American college settings.
Scholarships expose students to diverse cultural perspectives, challenging their societal norms and personal beliefs, and enhancing flexibility and acceptance in multicultural spaces, crucial for professional and personal growth.
The below table summarizes key personal growth areas strengthened through immersive study abroad funded by scholarships:
| Aspect of Personal Growth | Enhanced Through Studying Abroad |
| Self-efficacy | Belief in overcoming challenges heightened by navigating unfamiliar settings overseas |
| Cultural agility | Adaptability across cultural contexts gained through daily experiences abroad |
| Global perspective | Awareness of worldwide challenges and appreciation of diverse cultural mindsets |
FAQs on studying abroad on scholarships
Which students qualify for studying abroad on scholarships?
Scholarships for study abroad are available through government programs like Fulbright and Gilman along with institutional funds from students’ home colleges. Students from wide-ranging socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds receive merit-based awards based on factors like:
- Past academic performance exhibiting excellence
- Convincing essays conveying maturity and meaningful goals
- Relevant previous experiences like community engagement, research, internships
- Diverse representation: First-generation and minority status may be considered
So while financial need shapes eligibility for some study abroad scholarships, merit-based awards allow stellar students from all backgrounds to access transformational overseas experiences.
When should students apply for scholarships?
Since application timelines vary significantly between awards, students should identify target programs 1 to 2 years before their planned study abroad timeframe. Deadlines typically occur 8 to 12 months before overseas study would commence. However, a few larger scholarship providers like Fulbright offer both summer + academic year or just academic year options with different timetables.
Connecting early with campus study abroad and scholarship advisors ensures students follow ideal timelines specific to desired funding opportunities. Starting the search process early also allows sufficient time to produce competitive written materials like essays and activity descriptions.
What steps can students take to strengthen scholarship applications?
Scholarships for overseas study represent prestigious, selective awards. Undertaking the below steps raises applicants’ chances of earning financial support:
- Start preparing 1-2 years before departure
- Research typical award recipients and understand adjudication criteria
- Strengthen academic performance overall and particularly in departmental major
- Pursue meaningful campus and community activities to exhibit well-roundedness
- Compile thorough lists of past experiences and skills for written applications
- Utilize campus resources like writing centres to craft persuasive essays
- Gather letters of recommendation from professors and mentors highlighting strengths/trajectory
What types of study abroad programs partner with scholarships?
Myriad overseas programs collaborate with major scholarship providers so recipients access funded opportunities spanning:
- Semester/year undergraduate exchanges at overseas partner universities
- Intensive language + cultural immersion programs
- Tropical biology/environmental science research expeditions
- Public health internships with international NGOs
- Comparative education projects co-taught abroad
Opportunities exist for both individual scholarships like Fulbright awards and group funding through providers like Gilman to incorporate immersive academics with hands-on professional development.
Conclusion
Accessing life-changing study abroad journeys requires substantial funding that remains out of reach for many motivated students. Scholarships transform overseas study from an implausible dream into an achievable reality accessible to diverse students exhibiting significant drive and potential.
Competitive scholarships offer significant personal, academic, and career benefits to recipients by covering or supplementing tuition, room/board, travel, and other costs. All this is conferred through international education. Once abroad fully funded, scholars immerse in accelerated language training, interdisciplinary academics and specialized skill development completely unavailable on home campuses.
Funded overseas opportunities have significantly boosted growth in various fields, including Mandarin language and machine learning at Chinese universities and field research on infectious disease control in Colombia. Scholarship students build global perspectives and intercultural skills highly valued yet scarcely developed outside of international contexts.
Students with scholarship support, after returning home with developed competencies and worldviews, have opportunities to excel in globally focused careers. They enter a life trajectory and future fueled by their fully funded forays overseas. Students committed to learning the language and improving their academic profiles achieve their study-abroad aspirations without facing financial barriers.
